Pachy-osteo-sclerosis in Archaic Homo
Pachyosteosclerosis in Archaic Homo
Stephen Munro & 2011
In "Was Man more aquatic in the past? Fifty years after Alister Hardy - Waterside hypotheses of human evolution" Edition: eBook Ch.5 Bentham Sci.Publ. Eds Mario Vaneechoutte cs
Compared to the skeletons of all other primates, incl. H.sapiens, the crania & postcrania of H.erectus were typically massive, displaying extremely thick bones, with compact cortices & narrow medullary canals.
Even outside Primates, examples of animals displaying such massive bones are rare.
Although this feature is sometimes seen as diagnostic of H.erectus, few convincing hypotheses have been put forward to explain its functional & adaptive significance.
Here, we present data showing:
unusu. heavy bones were a typical, although not exclusive nor indispensable, characteristic of H.erectus populations through the early-, mid- & late-Pleistocene in areas of Asia, Africa & Europe.
A comparative review of the occurrence of massive skeletons in other mammals suggests:
- they have an important buoyancy control function in shallow-diving aquatic & semi-aquatic spp,
- they are part of a set of adaptations that allow for the more efficient collection of slow, sessile & immobile foods, e.g. aquatic vegetation & hard-shelled invertebrates.
We therefore consider the possibility:
part-time shoreline collection of aquatic foods might have been a typical element of the lifestyle of H.erectus populations.
We discuss
- the alternative explanations for heavy bones from the literature,
- apparent exceptions to the rule, e.g. thin-boned H.erectus & thick-boned H.sapiens fossils.
A review of the palaeo-ecological data shows:
most, if not all, H.erectus fossils & tools are ass.x with water-dependent molluscs & large bodies of permanent water.
Since fresh & salt water habitats have different densities, we hypothesize:
in H.erectus & some H.sapiens populations, there might have been a positive correlation between massive bones & dwelling along sea- or salt lake shores.
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